[Question #5384] Syringe booty bump with no needle, was I at risk??
75 months ago
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Twenty days ago from the posting of this question, I had an encounter with an older man which I do not know the status at a gay sauna. He starts to touch me and then tells me to go to his room and he starts fondling me. Then he tells me to lay on my back on the bed and he starts fingering my anus. It hurts a little, then I feel my anus getting wet so I stand up and ask him what is he doing and I noticed that he is not fingering my anus but instead holding a syringe WITHOUT a needle and says he is trying to squirt crystal with water up my anus, apparently he was trying to get me high that way, all of that took about 10-15 seconds before I noticed. He asks if I feel the high which I answer no I don’t feel anything and immediately walk away to the restrooms where I force to poop then jump in the shower and wash my anus thoroughly. I don’t know if he used the same syringe on him prior to using it on me and I don’t know how long he has had it but I noticed the syringe lying on his bed when I walked into his room, it was clear with water and again, it had no needle. We stayed in his room for about half an hour so assuming if there was something in that syringe, it was getting exposed to air. About 12 hrs later I went to a family health clinic and started on PEP and I asked the doctor there if he thinks I needed it and he said yes 100% because something was flushed up my rectum but then I met with an infectious diseases specialist and told him my scenario and asked him if I had a risk and he says he doesn't think so and he says that he doesn't think I need the pep. I feel I am receiving conflicting information. I posted and asked my same scenario on medhelp and poz forums and everyone there says that I did not have a risk at all and that PEP is not required. I would like to know, was I at risk for HIV from this incident? And if I wasn't, could you please elaborate why?? Maybe knowing the science will help with my anxiety.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
75 months ago
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Welcome to the Forum. I'll be glad to comment but the decision to take PEP is a personal one. I hope the information i provide will be helpful to you.
FYI, medications, including crystal are likely to be well absorbed through the rectum. This is relevant to your situations since, had he been successful in inserting the syringe into your rectum, I suspect you would have experienced the effects of the drug, which you did not. Thus it is reasonable to assume that the syringe he was using did not go into your rectum and therefore even if contaminated with his secretions, it is unlikely that you were exposed. I would add that you do not know this person's HIV status so he may not have been infected.
Bottom line, I suspect this was a very low risk event and had I been in a similar situation, I probably would not have sought PEP. You did and now, almost three weeks after your exposure, I see no reason not to finish your medication course. I emphasize however that the choice about PEP is a personal one and as long as you are tolerating the medication well, there is little reason not to finish the course.
I hope this perspective is helpful to you. EWH
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75 months ago
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Thank you so much for your response Dr, this incident was a real scare to me so that's why I decided to seek out PEP. The members in poz forums and medhelp say that I should relax and move on since I did not have a risk from this incident since HIV is not transmitted this way, would you agree with their responses? Is the virus inactivated as soon as it leaves the body? Have you ever seen or heard of someone getting HIV from getting a syringe with no needle shoved up the back door and getting some unknown substance flushed??? I've read that the slang term is booty bumping, have you ever heard of someone getting infected through booty bumping??
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
75 months ago
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I understand your concerns. After all, essentially you were sexually assaulted by someone who wanted to drug you without your knowing. At he same time however, your risk of having been exposed to HIV through these activities is very, very low and, as i have already told you, is not something I would worry about. Thus to repeat and empahasize what I have already said:
1. I do agree with the others who said this was a virtually no risk event (said this before)
2. HIV becomes non-infectious almost immediately once it is outside the body.
3. No, I have never heard of anyone getting infected in the way you have described.
EWH
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75 months ago
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Many thanks again for your responses and advice Dr. It will really help easy the anxiety I have been feeling these past couple of days. Final questions now, since I have to go back and do a follow up after completing the PEP, if I remember correctly, the doctor said they would test me using a HIV 4th generation test, is it ok to test 4 days after I complete PEP?? If it's negative, can I consider those results conclusive and relax?? Have you ever seen a negative result at 4 weeks from a 4th generation test turn positive after??? Many many thanks again and thank you for all the work you do in this forum.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
75 months ago
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I presume that in sentence two you meant to write "4 weeks" rather than "4 days". Irrespective, my reply is that after 4 weeks a 4th generation, combination HIV antigen/antibody test will provide accurate information regarding whether or not you were infected by the events we are discussing. I would cover these results definitive and have never seen or heard of someone's follow-up test taking more than 4 weeks to become positive after completion of PEP. I should acknowledge however that there are some groups including the CDC which state that while 4 week results are highly reliable, a second follow-up test should be done at 3 months. I find these recommendations for a second test overly conservative which is a characteristic of the CDC but I would not be doing my job if I did not provide this information to you. Were I you, a negative 4 week test would be all that I would do.
I hope these replies have been helpful. As this is my 3rd response, this completes this thread which will be closed shortly. Take care and please don't worry, the encounter you describe was very, very low risk. EWH
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